vespa

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A Linnean genus of aculeate hymenopterous insects, formerly of great extent, now restricted to certain social wasps and hornets of the modern family Vespidæ, as the common wasp, V. vulgaris, and the common hornet, V. crabro. See cuts under hornet and wasp. It at first corresponded to Latreille's family Diploptera, but is now restricted to forms having the abdomen sessile, broad and truncate at the base, metathorax very short and truncate, and the basal nervure of the fore wings joining the subcostal at some distance before the stigma. They are short-bodied wasps with folded wings, and are commonly known in the United States as yellow-jackets or hornets. Their nests consist of a series of combs arranged one below another, and enveloped in a papery covering. In tropical regions these nests reach an immense size, those of a Ceylonese species often measuring 6 feet in length. Twenty species occur in the United States and 14 in Europe. V. maculata of North America is the so-called white-faced hornet, and is isotypical with the European V. crabro. The latter has been introduced into the United States, and occurs in New York, and New England.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of the Vespidae: various hornets and yellow jackets